Investar Holding Co. (NASDAQ:ISTR) Increases Dividend to $0.11 Per Share

Investar Holding Co. (NASDAQ:ISTR) announced a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, September 18th, Zacks reports. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 30th will be given a dividend of 0.105 per share by the financial services provider on Thursday, October 31st. This represents a $0.42 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.20%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 30th. This is a boost from Investar’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.10.

Investar has raised its dividend payment by an average of 16.5% per year over the last three years. Investar has a payout ratio of 20.5% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect Investar to earn $1.94 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.40 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 20.6%.

Investar Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:ISTR opened at $19.10 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $17.72 and its two-hundred day moving average is $16.48. The company has a current ratio of 0.98, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26. The firm has a market capitalization of $187.73 million, a P/E ratio of 10.67 and a beta of 0.78. Investar has a 52 week low of $9.07 and a 52 week high of $19.15.

Investar (NASDAQ:ISTR) last issued its earnings results on Monday, July 22nd. The financial services provider reported $0.36 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.30 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $38.54 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $19.23 million. Investar had a net margin of 10.04% and a return on equity of 6.69%. Analysts anticipate that Investar will post 1.52 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Separately, StockNews.com cut Investar from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, August 5th.

Investar Company Profile

Investar Holding Corporation operates as the bank holding company for Investar Bank that provides a range of commercial banking products to individuals, professionals, and small to medium-sized businesses in south Louisiana, southeast Texas, and Alabama in the United States. The company offers various deposit products and services, such as savings, checking, money market, and individual retirement accounts, as well as various certificates of deposit; debit and credit cards; internet, mobile, and video banking services; and reciprocal deposit products.